Canadian Gregory “Greg” Parks spent the majority of his career as an ice hockey forward overseas, but began in the Alberta leagues with the Edmonton Jaycees (1982-1983) and the St. Albert Saints (1983-1985). He enrolled in Bowling Green State University in 1985 and spent four solid years on their hockey team prior to getting his first taste of European hockey in 16 games with Finland’s Karpat Oulu. In addition to eight matches with the East Coast Hockey League’s Johnstown Chiefs, he played out the remainder of the 1989-1990 season with the American Hockey League’s Springfield Indians, winning the league’s championship Calder Cup with the team. He made his National Hockey League debut in 1990 with the New York Islanders, but spent most of the year with the affiliated Capital District Islanders of the AHL. He spent even more time in the minor leagues during the 1991-1992 season, and only one of the seventy-eight games he played was for New York. His duties were strained even more the following year, as he skated with New York, Sweden’s Leksands IF, and the Canadian national team. His two games with New York would be his last in the NHL and he stuck with the latter two squads for the 1993-1994 season, winning a silver medal for his country at the 1994 Winter Olympics. At the tournament he played in eight matches and scored one goal. He spent the remainder of his career in Europe with Germany’s Krefelder EV (1994-1995), Sweden’s Brynas IF Gavle (1995-1996), Leksands IF (1999-2001), and IF Bjorkloven Umea (2001-2002), and Switzerland’s SC Langnau (1996-1999) and HC Fribourg-Gotteron (2000-2001) prior to his 2002 retirement. He then coached junior hockey in Alberta, including for the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s Sherwood Park Crusaders and later, St. Albert Steel, where he also served as general manager.
Canada